Cranking device for explosion-engines.



. W'. D. TOWNLEY. GBENKING DEvIcE ron EXPLOSION ENGINES.

APPLIOATION FILED APRA. 1911.

1,011,096. Patented De@.5,1911.

wlTNEssss mvm'ron www @gw ATTO RN EY STATES PATENT Ormea.

WILLIAM n. TOwNLEY, or sAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, AssIGNOR TO'I-IERoULEs AUTO STARTER (INC.), A CORPORATION or ARIZONA TERRITORY.

CRANKING DEVICE FOR IEXPLOSIDNeENGINES.

I Speeication of Letters Patent.

- Patented Dee. 5, Iam.

Applicatonmea April s, 1911'. serial 110.618.663..

.To all whom 'it may concern: Y

Be it known that I, WILLIAM D. Tc'iwNLnY, acitizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, inthe county of`San Francisco and State of California, have invented a new and useful Cranking Device for'EX- plosion-Engines, of which the followingis a specification in suchfull 'and .clear terms It willfbe understood by those skilled in the art that with high compression engines' having means for advancing landjretarding the spark, it often happens that the explosiou takes place prematurely, in'which event the lengine starts to rotate in the re` verse direction from that in which the person starting the same is endeavorin'g to ro tate it. The result of this is.-that many I persons .have-.been seriously injured by 4the `crank striking them o'n such an occasion.

1A further object'of this invention is to provide-means whereby the crank 'shaft 'may be held-in a given position to enable the.

person starting 'the engine to quickly throw it over past the dead point, .means being provided to prevent the'. engine cylinders fromV backing `up when `under compression.

^ In 'the 'drawings inwhich the' same numeral of reference is appliedto the same portion throughout the several views, Figure 1 is a side Velevationl 'of the starting appa- '.ratus as iit'is applied to an.` automobile, a'

portion of the casing'being broken away,

although'it will be apparent that any de-. -sired form of casing Orsupport may be used for the startingl apparatus proper.4

Fig. 2 i's a view'in vertical elevation look- .ing'at the end' of vthe-shaft of` the cranking device, a portion oft-he casing, being re- I moved for the purpose ofshowing the interior mechanism.. Fig. 3 -is a view of the. start'mglever and the ratchet lcollarsecured 'thereto lin side elevation.'

The numeral 1` represents 'a 'disk' which is adapted to be secured to any portion ofz the frame adjacent theyengine, :said disk having a boss 2. at its center, throu h which Jthe slidable sleeve' 3 extends, said s eeve being held in line with the crank shaft. This;

slidable sleeve 3 is provided with teeth 4 for lengagement withv oppositely placed teeth v upon the end ofthe crank shaft ofthe en-'I gmc. a shaft 5, which has a pin 6 therein, which This slidable sleeve is' placed 'over` i 4operates in two cam slots 7 in said sleeve. i

'Ihe disk 1 has bolts 8 passing therethrough, which bolts support a slotted ring 9 and a face plate 10. The short shaft has a ratchet disk 11 Xed-thereon, said teeth ,facing the' like teeth of a ratchet disk 12- loosely mounted upon said shaft. The disk 12v has a lever ,13 secured thereto, which to be mentioned., as shown at 14. lso loosely mounted `upon the shaft are the disk 1'5 havingl an extension ,16- with a slot 17" outside of the berdisks there is a disk 19.

The 19 on said shaft 7 is held against thel said Afiber-,disks as tightly as may be necessary by lmeans of a notched nut'20, thelatter'bein'g threaded on the shaft.v

erating the ratchet disk there is a stiff .c'oil spring 21 for holding the two ratchet disks' normally in engagement. In as much as it Amight be desired to operate the engine'by the crankin the usual manner, a' toothed? ring 22; is provide'd upon the outer'end-of the shaft'of the cranking device. y

The lever secured to the .loose ratchet disk Between the disk. y1 and the :lever for. opg-Q' has' one end ,thereof projecting through .a

thereof to disengage the two ratchet disks, should'the engine kick baek,. and inorder to'insure the proper disengagement *ofA the' two disks upon each side of the shaft, the

slot 23 in the ring surrounding the mechanism, said slot having' a cam 24, at one en d The operation ofA the device is as follows I:V i

vThe end of the :arm of the ratchet `lever isconnected to any suitable lever or ismade of such length as. may be deemed necessary tol operate the engine. The operator ."fwise to engage with the crank. shaft. bv

meansl of t-he cam slotsl therein. Should it happen that the engine icfuses to start at that time, all that is necessary to do is to draw the lever back and push it forward .10 again,'the fiber disks holding the ciank shaft in theposition to which it has been turned by the ratchet lever. It is of course possible to rotate the crank shaft as many times as is' desired, but usually one or two strokes of the lever are sufiicient to start the engine. Should the engine happen to strike back or kick back the lever will of course be returned forcibly tothe end of the slot, whereupon it will strike the cams 'at said slot` and within the casing, which will at once disengagethe two ratchet disks "and permit the engine to run backward as far as it may happen to, owing to such an explosion. It will be clear that as soon as the engine has started in the proper direction, theslidable sleeve will move away from the teeth on the end of the crank shaft, land will permit the rotation of the engine shaft Without .interference therewith.

Having thus described my invention what I claimv as new and desire to secure by Leters Patent of the United States is as folows: l

1. In a cranking device for gas engines, a

support, a slidable member in said support capable of engagement with a crank shaft, a revoluble non-slidable shaft, means carried by the shaft to move said slidable member longitudinally and to rotate it upon the rotation of the shaft, means to holdy said .shaft yieldingly in a given position when the slidable member has engaged the engine shaft and means to rotate said shaft, substantially as described.

4,'5. '2. In a cranking device for gas engines, a

' .casing, a slidable sleeve adapted to be engaged with va crank shaft, a revoluble non- 'slidable shaft, means carried by the shaft to move said sleeve longitudinally and to rotate it upon the rotation of the shaft, means to hold said shaft yieldingly in a given position when the slidable sleeve has engaged the engine shaft, and means to rotate said shaft, substantially as described.

3. In an engine cranking device, a casing, v

a longitudinally slidable sleeve supported therein, a revoluble non-slidable shaft, means carried by the shaft to move said sleeve longitudinally and to rotate the same, 'means to holdsaid shaft yieldingly in a fixed position when the sleeve has engaged the engine shaft, and ratchet mechanism for rotating said shaft as desired, substantially as described.

365 4. In a 'cranking device for gas engines, a

' gines, ai casing, a shaft revoluble therein, a

revoluble non-slidable shaft, means carried by t-he shaft to move Said sleeve longitudinally and to rotate the same, friction disks to yielding-ly hold said shaft in a desired posit-ion when said sleeve has engaged the .shaft of the engine, a lever, ratchet mechansm connected with said lever to rota-te said shaft, and means to vary the pressure uponsaid friction disks to enable said mechanism to be used upon different kinds of engines, substantially as described.

6. In a cranking device for explosionengines, a slidable sleeve supfp'orted therein, a 9U revoluble non-slidable sha means carriedl by the -shaft to move said sleeve longitudinally and to rotate the same, means to yieldingly hold said shaft in a desired position when the sleeve has engaged the shaft of an engine, ratchet mechanism for rotating said shaft, a lever connected with said ratchetv mechanism and means oneacli side of said shaft to forcibly disengage said ratchet mechanism, should the engine back fire, substantially vas de scribedf 7 In a cranking device for gas'engines, a casing, a shaft carried thereby, a slidable sleeve on said shaft, means carried by the shaft to engage the cams on the sleeve to move the same to engage and rotate an engine shaft, means to yieldingly hold said shaft in a given position when the slidable sleeve has engaged the engine shaft, a member having ratchet teeth, and a lever carrying ratchet teeth to engagel the teeth of said ratchet member to rotate the shaft, substant-ially as described. Y

8. In a cranking device for explosion eniio slidable'sleeve carried by said shaft, means carried by the yshaft to engage cams on the sleeve to move the same to engage an engine shaft and rotate the same, a disk loosely mounted on said shaft, means to secure said disk in a given position, friction disks to yieldingly hold the shaft in a given position when the slidable sleeve thereon has engaged4 the engine shaft and a lever for rotating said shaft, substantially as described. U

9. In a' cranking device for gas engines, a revoluble shaft, suitable bearings therefor, a ratchet sleeve carried by said shaft and a pin carried by said shaft to engage cams on the sleeve to move the latter longitudinally 130 to engage and rotate an engine shaft, means my hand this 25th day of March A. D. 1911, to yieldingly hold said shaft in a given posiin the presence of the two subscribed Wittion when the engine shaft has been engaged nesses.

by the loose sleeve and a ratchet lever to ro- WILLIAM D. TOWNLEY. 5 tate the shaft and sleeve, substantially as Witnesses:

described. Cul). GRIFFIN,

In `testimony whereof I have hereuntoset 'L H. ANDERSON. 

